Undeterred by the stumbling of Kindle Fire, Amazon is reported to be preparing even more tablets.
Amazon plans six tablets, ranging in size, but including the 10-inch form factor, which seem to go beyond purely e-reading, Reuters claims.
Its report suggests the tablets will be tied into Amazon’s market, helping it sell more …

The problem is Apple have all the rights to the content outside the US. No other company have been able to get them. That's why Amazon haven't released the kindle fire elsewhere. Google took a gamble with the Nexus 7 and the problem of not having the rights. Amazon are clearly unwilling to do this, so far at least.

Re: Yay

Re: Yay

The Kindle Fire uses a forked, locked down version of Android. Unless you owned a substantial collection of movies on Amazon there is absolutely no reason to buy this device. Amazon apps such as kindle reader and the app store are available on other Android devices without gimping the whole experience. The Amazon Appstore only has a subset of the same apps, lacking many free tools and games because Amazon slaps a $100 annual fee on developers for the privilege of using their store.

While I think the Nexus is imperfect in a number of ways it still beats the crap out of the Kindle Fire and probably whatever version replaces it.

what's wrong with 10" for reading?

Re: what's wrong with 10" for reading?

Yeah and added Star Wars holograms and unicorn piss and a coupon for your own mini dragon, oh and kate moss to supply your coke habit. The things you want have to be created before they can be sold, Amazon aren't being dicks for the sake of it, they like everyone else can only produce the possible and at the moment you can't do colour e-ink. It's also probable that with the way e-ink displays are made it is impossible to do colour. 10x faster, yeah that would be nice but probably not going to happen, 3-5 times faster seems doable though. After that, the stuff being done with LCD will probably send e-ink the way of the plasma screen or betamax.

Re: what's wrong with 10" for reading?

Colour e-ink is as slow for updating as regular e-ink. This is because colour e-ink is just gray scale e-ink with an extra layer which adds some pigmentation.

Mirasol would be a lot faster and closer to what you're after and I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a device appearing from Amazon which used it. Depends of course on whether they care about e-readers any more. They might just stick colour e-ink in as a sop to people who want a pure reader so they don't muddy the waters for people who might buy a tablet instead.

Fragmentation

When will companies learn?

- Nokia has hundreds of phones

- RIM (Blackberry) has a dozen different phones

- Apple has one iPhone, one iPad

Guess which company is doing best?

The success of the early Kindles was partly down to the fact that there was just one model. Developing apps for the iPhone and iPad is vastly simplified by having only a handful of devices to worry about. Android developers complain about hardware fragmentation: there are thousands of possible combinations of screen resolution, processor speed, memory, GPS, Bluetooth, etc. Customers look at all the confusion, shrug their shoulders, and go to the Apple store instead.

Re: Fragmentation

"Customers look at all the confusion, shrug their shoulders, and go to the Apple store instead"

Really? That might have been true in 2009, but not anymore. Most of them have worked out that Apple are now VERY far behind the technology curve, and the ease of use is actually a limitation rather than a selling point.

Re: Fragmentation?

Fragmentation is always going to be more of a problem in the mobile space due to limitations (power, processor speed etc.) though I suspect it will become less of an issue over time if the variances can be papered over, see Windows did do something for you. Remember how much of a problem it used to be in PCs (those games with CGA, EGA, VGA, MCGA choices and running separate files to configure your Adlib/Sound Blaster/Sound Blaster Pro/Roland/Random combination and even then it might not work if you didn't have different EMM profiles setup and a mouse/no mouse config.sys). if you have enough horse power to paper over the hardware cracks with software it'll be fine.

That said I don't think fragmentation is killing Android right now, there are some really good devices starting to come out as long as you're careful and remember you tend to get what you pay for. (Disclaimer, yes I'm still locked into the Apple store and not terribly unhappy).

@ lemmac

Hmmm, sounds just like a pc... i'm sure they were quite successful. That was back in the days when software was called software though so i guess its only 'apps' that face the problem you mention?

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No, I think the problem is that some script kiddies that call themselves developers can't be bothered to make flexible software.

And they don't need to, either: I've come to the conclusion that the "walled garden" is what the majority of people really want. They don't want to adjust their screens, their memory, install GPS drivers or such. They want a thing that works.

Even better would be a thing that works by itself:

My proposal is the iLifeTunePodPad.

Here's what you have to do: After you buy it in the Apple store, your banking info will be stored with the AppleBank who easily and without need of your time will transfer all money movements to your new AppleCount. There is no need for new credit cards, as payments will mostly be to AppleFiliate companies anyway and anything else is not really needed. The rent for your ApplePartment will automatically be paid and adjusted as well as your Utts (these used to be utilities, like water, electricity, gas), which are now supplied through the UttStore.

The iLifeTunePodPad will wake you in the morning to go to work at the right time, will send the right messages at the right occasion to the right friends, and mark photos of the child that you will have with your iPartner correctly with the right name: Steve or Stephanie. With its built-in body monitor it will also inform the right people to start the correct recycling procedure at the end of your usefulness.

Re: @ lemmac

funny and brilliant and sadly too true.... I'm afraid you've played you hand to quick though... You should have filed patents for this idea, incorporated a company called iLife (Apple does own i-x) and then sell the company to Apple for a cool 100 mil.... now they will just take the these ideas and use them... just watch.

Re: What puzzles me

"But then, I'm the sort of zealot who isn't interested even in Android - gimme a Linux I can use and a decent language to write my own applications. Perhaps I'm not the target audience?"

Probably not... But that's what happens when a product gets commoditized.

First you had the *REAL* drivers who built their own horseless carriages and knew how everything worked. Then companies started selling them pre-made so that you could only use parts that fit one manufacturer's models. Eventually, the average user -- you can hardly call him a "driver" anymore -- wanted something that cranked the motor over for him, or lubricated itself or even shifted its own gears. There are still specialist automobile enthusiasts that want to build or tinker with their own vehicles, but they're not the mass market that just wants to use their car to get them where they want to go.

Re: What puzzles me

"Is why anyone would buy anything, any time, which ties you to one particular retailer."

Yes the Fire is designed to be used with the Amazon’s own multimedia and application stores, and it’s default configuration is to use these and only these, but In the grand scheme of things, Amazon doesn’t tie you down as much as you presume. (I’m taking a guess here that you don’t own a fire or have probably never used one for a long period of time.) To the extent that 8 months of having my Fire, I have never installed any applications via the Amazon Application store.

Unlike the Apple devices where you have a fairly complex route to being able to install any applications that are not from Apple, Amazon have made a tick box. Tick it and the Fire will allow you to install whatever from where ever. Granted it takes a bit of jiggery-pokery (all on the device itself, not on a connected machine) to get the Google application store installed, but it does work.

Like Apple, Amazon have realised that the majority of the customer base is happy to be spoon fed content and are more than willing to give it to them. Unlike Apple, Amazon have realised that some of its client base will want to shop around and not eat from the spoon Amazon are holding out, so they’ve made it easy for those people to do that. Granted it’s not as free and easy as native Android but it’s so drastic that people used to Native, wouldn’t be lost on a Fire.

@Confuciousmobil -

Cars? Furniture? Washbasins? Carpets?

The whole economy is full of failures(?) that offer choice and diversity; if they all catch on the Jobs/Apple idea, it'll look like a shopping mall in east Berlin in 1982: Choice of 1 fruit and 1TV. 1 fridge to be issued on 21 st September...